Lori Ang

She wants to help your grandmother, plan your future and make sure your kids are raised right.

“I’m a partner in a wealth management team that provides families and business owners a financial plan that addresses all areas of their financial management,” explains Ang, a financial adviser for Citigroup Smith Barney.

Ang began her career at Ernst & Young, LLP as a consultant providing assurance, advisory and information technology consulting services for Fortune 500 companies.

Prior to joining Citigroup Smith Barney, she held corporate finance management positions at the Walt Disney Company and Beckman Coulter, Inc. While at Citigroup Smith Barney, Ang earned her MBA at the University of Southern California and, armed with a CPA license and advanced degree, she decided to steer her career in a new direction.

“I moved to the financial advisory side of the profession,” Ang reflects. “It complements my personal goal, which is to help people. What we do touches peoples’ lives. It’s very personal and it’s very valuable and meaningful.”

Ang says her job requires her to become an extension of her clients’ families. “We know everything about them, because when they come to us, we ask very personal questions to get the information we need to better serve them: what their goals are, what they want for their kids, how they want to raise them, etc. We get to grow with them as well, and see their lives change and help them adjust to the change.”

One client stands out for Ang: the client’s assets were distributed all over the world, and Ang helped her bring more than 30 accounts under one roof—on one sheet of paper.

“Unfortunately, she passed away, right when we were in the process of developing her estate plan,” says Ang. “Now, I’m helping my client’s family in a different manner: helping to get their deceased mother’s finances in order. When it’s all said and done, we’re going to be involved with a couple generations of my client’s family.

“We really want to do that, get into households,” she continues. “We are involved in helping parents educate their children financially, so they aren’t just handing over a blank check to their kids. The parents want their kids to understand how to manage that money since, ultimately, the kids will be the ones taking care of them at some point.”

Her career, and work with families, has been rewarding for Ang, who is accomplishing her goals of “helping people, and being able to make a difference in their lives” every day. Ang also serves as a financial literacy volunteer for CalCPA, which takes her into classrooms to teach kids how to manage money.

“It’s a no-brainer to start your career as a CPA, because the background introduces you to so many opportunities when you may not know exactly what you want to do,” says Ang. “Every situation is an opportunity: leap into it.”